Life Changes and So do I
by GreySide58
Summary: He comes back to town after 8 years, but now he's got a daughter.
1. Prologue

**A/N: **This is an idea that's been mulling around in my head, insisting to get out, so here it is.

**Disclaimer: **Only own Sarah and Mrs. Frisk, nothing else.

A school bus pulled up to the apartment complex and came to a stop. Once it was fully stopped the driver opened up the door and out stepped a girl about six years old, with a backpack on her back. She looked around for a second before she spotted a man standing on the sidewalk looking at her.

"Daddy!" she shouted, running to him.

"Told ya I'd be here, I always am." He said after giving her a kiss on the head.

"I know, but still." She said smiling up at him.

"Come on, let's head up." He said smiling as he took her hand. They walked up together to their apartment.

"Wanna go out to eat tonight?" he asked her once they were settled. He was seated on the couch, while she was kneeling on the ground, coloring on the table.

"Ok, why?" she said, turning to look at him. She may have been young, but in her six years of life she knew that her daddy didn't like to go out to eat unless it was special.

"Because, Sarah, I sold my book today." He told her excitedly.

"Oh." She said looking at the floor, her face crest fallen.

"Sarah, what's wrong?" he asked, a bit concerned.

"I heard you and Mrs. Frisk talking and she said that when you sold your book you'd have to travel and if you travel I won't get to see you and I'd be alone." She told him, tears were coming down her face.

"I know, baby, but I'll see you and plus I've got some other news." He said after getting on the floor next to her and pulling her to him.

"What?" she asked, sniffing. He took a deep breath before telling her, because not only was this going to be big for her; it was going to be big and hard for him too.

"I was thinking, because I will be traveling, I'd like you to be with family." He said.

"Like Grandma?" she questioned, referring to his mom. He'd lost track of her mom's parents.

"No, my uncle, your uncle too. But, because you'll be with him so much, I thought it'd be better if we moved to where he lived." He told her carefully, watching her reactions.

"What about my friends?" she asked him, looking in his eyes.

"You'll make new ones, I promise." He told her, hoping he wasn't making a promise that would be broken.

"I don't wanna move, Daddy." She said, hugging him as she cried. He stroked her brown hair to comfort her, letting her cry.

"When are me moving?" she asked after about five minutes.

"In about a month or so. We'll visit this weekend though." He told her.

"Where are we going?"

"A small town in Connecticut called Stars Hallow."

**To Be Continued...**


	2. Coming Home

**Disclaimer: **Still only own Sarah

Jess pulled his car up to the curb across from his uncle's diner. Guns & Roses was playing just loud enough for him to hear, but quiet enough so it wouldn't wake Sarah who was asleep in the backseat. Once he was stopped he turned off the car and got out. He went to the back and proceeded to wake up Sarah.

"We're here." He told her with a smile when she groggily opened her eyes. She took his hand as they got out of the car and crossed the street. No one did a serious double take his way; he figured it was because he looked different. His hair was no longer spiked; he didn't do much with it actually. Part of his hair fell over his eye and he didn't really wear t-shirts much anymore, unless he was just hanging out at home, he wore more dress shirts, even today, although it was opened at the top and the sleeves were rolled up.

When he and Sarah stepped into the diner he was happy to see the counter was cleared and Luke standing there.

"Luke." He said with a smile after he helped Sarah hop up into a stool.

"Jess?" he said, a bit surprised to see his nephew standing before him.

"The one and only." He said with a smirk.

"And this must be, Sarah?" Luke said looking at her. He and Jess had kept in touch off and on since he'd left. Luke had been the only person to always be there for him when he needed somebody.

"How do you know my name?" she asked with a smile.

"'Cause, I'm your uncle and we're supposed to know those things." He told her, he then noticed the baseball cap she was wearing and glanced over at Jess.

"Hey, I let her wear most of what she wants. She's been into hats lately and today she decided to wear it backwards, not my doing." He said, holding his hands up in mock surrender.

"So, you guys hungry." Luke said, getting out a pad.

"A burger and coke's fine." Jess said with a shrug.

"Can I get pancakes, Daddy?" Sarah asked, looking at him. Jess looked up at the clock. He remembered the schedule of breakfast, lunch, and dinner from when he'd worked at the diner for a short bit of time.

"I don't know, Sarah." He started, but Luke cut in.

"She can have pancakes, I'll have Caesar cook up a couple." He said as though it were nothing. Jess looked at him and only shook his head.

"What do you say?" Jess said, looking over at his daughter.

"Thank you."

"Whatever." He said in his Luke way, before going to help out a couple of other customers. Just then the bell over the door rang and when he looked behind him he saw a little boy, a little younger than Sarah, run in.

"Daddy!" he shouted, running over to Luke. Jess had known Lorelai had had a son, but it was still a surprise to see a little child running to him.

"Hey, bud. Where's your mom?" he asked. The boy pointed to the door, in which Jess turned to look at. He watched as Lorelai walked in, she quickly spotted him.

"Jess." She was all she said as she walked up to him.

"Hey, been awhile." He said,

"Yeah, is this your daughter?" she asked, looking at Sarah. She'd seen pictures that'd he sent to Luke, but neither of them had ever met her since Jess refused to come back to Stars Hallow until now.

"Yeah. Sarah, this is Aunt Lorelai." Jess said, looking at her. Sarah was looking at Lorelai with shy eyes.

"Nice to meet you, Sarah." Lorelai said looking at her.

"Hi." She said quietly, looking briefly at Lorelai.

"She's pretty." Lorelai said, looking at Jess.

"Thanks, she has her mother's eyes." Jess said with a sad smile. Just then the bell dinged again and Rory Gilmore walked in and she happened to spot him right away when she saw her mom.

**To Be Continued...**


	3. Where's Her Mom?

**A/N:** This chapter is a longer than the other two, but it might not always be this length. I just had fun writing this chapter. I hope you enjoy.

**Disclaimer: **Only own Cathrine and Sarah

"Jess!" she said, shocked to see him.

"Hi, Rory." He said calmly as he got off the stool and went over to her.

"What are you doing back here?" she asked, surprised to just see him in town.

"Because I'm moving back." He said, looking at her.

"Moving back?"  
"Yeah, Sarah needs someone I trust to look after her when I'm not around." He told her.

"Sarah?" Jess looked at her a bit shocked that she didn't know who Sarah was. He then looked at Luke and Lorelai, apparently they hadn't told her.

"My daughter." He said, turning and pointing at the little girl who was sitting at the counter and watching Jess.

"You have a daughter? Where's her mom?" Rory questioned, there was a bit of accusation in her voice and eyes.

"Jess, why don't you and Rory go upstairs and talk? Sarah will be good down here." Luke suggested. He'd been watching the interaction between the two and knew Jess wasn't about ready to talk about his personal life in the middle of the diner, with everyone watching.

"Thanks, Luke. Stay here with Uncle Luke alright, I'm gonna be upstairs." He told Sarah. She nodded that she would.

"That's a good girl." He said, giving her a kiss.

"Ya comin'?" he questioned as he turned and looked at Rory.

"Yeah." They go upstairs. The office is slightly different; it doesn't look much like an apartment anymore, it still had the sink and a couch, it was different though.

"So, are you really back?" Rory asked as Jess sat on one end of the couch and she sat at the other end.

"For the weekend. I'm gonna let Sarah get used to the town a little bit and then we'll be back for good in about a month or so. She needs family when I'm not here, not a babysitter or someone that I barely know." He told her.

"What about her mom?" she asked, going back to her earlier question, only a bit softer this time.

"She's dead." He said simply.

_**6 years ago**_

_"Mr. Mariano, you're wife is weak. Having Sarah was hard on her body and I'm not sure how long she's got, a year tops. I'm sorry." The doctor said. Jess and him were in the doctor's office. Sarah had been born not even 24 hours earlier._

_"Only a year? Can't you do something?" Jess said looking at the doctor, anger in his tone and eyes._

_"It's possible she could go beyond a year, but the likely hood of it isn't good. We really can't do anything, other than keep her comfortable and wait." The doctor said, his voice and face calm._

_"So nothing. Just sit around and do nothing." Anger even more evident in his voice._

_"I'm sorry, Mr. Mariano." Jess got up and walked out of the office, slamming the door as he left. He went to Cathrine's room._

_"Hey." He said softly, taking her hand as he sat in the chair that was by the bed._

_"Hey, how's Sarah?" she asked. Her voice was tired._

_"Good, healthy and strong." He said, looking at her._

_"What'd the doctor say?"_

_"A year, a freakin' year." He said, standing up in anger. He started to pace the room._

_"Jess, it's a year I get with my daughter, with my husband. It's worth it. Some people don't even that." She said, looking at him._

_"But in a year, I'll be alone. I don't want a year, Cath, I want the rest of __**our **__lives." He said angrily._

_" I know, but, baby, it's not gonna happen. You know that, unless there's anything the doctors can do…"_

_"Yeah, they can't do anything." He said bitterly._

_"Jess, just come sit down. Even better, take me to see our daughter." She told him. He went over to her and took her hand._

_"Alright, let's go see her." He said a small smile on his face._

**_A year later_**

_Luke and Lorelai were just sitting down for dinner when the phone rang._

_"I'll get that." He said with a sigh as he went to get the phone._

_"Hello?" nobody answered at first. It annoyed him a little._

_"Hello?" again no answer, only breathing._

_"Listen, whoever this is…" he was cut off._

_"Luke." He knew the voice and the tone._

_"When Jess?"_

_"Ten minutes ago, I think." His voice was choked._

_"I'm sorry, Jess. I should've been there." Luke said_

_"She was too weak, she couldn't hold on." Jess said into the phone, Luke could hear the evident pain in his voice._

_"I'm coming up there, Jess." He said, knowing he had to be with his nephew._

_"Thanks, Luke."_

_"It's fine."_

_"I'll see you soon, alright, Jess." He said into the phone before they hung up._

_"She's gone isn't she?" Lorelai said when Luke turned to face her._

_"Yeah, 'bout ten minutes ago."_

_"You going to go up there?" she questioned_

_"Yeah, I should probably leave now. Sorry 'bout dinner." He told her._

_"It's fine, go be with him. He needs you more than I do." She said with understanding._

_"Alright." He said as he walked towards the upstairs to pack a few things. As he passed her he gave her a quick kiss on the lips._

_In about two hours he was pulling up to his nephew's apartment building. When he went upstairs he pulled out his copy of the key, something Jess had made sure he'd had for some reason._

_"Jess." He shouted into the air when he came in._

_"In here." He heard Jess's voice shout from the bedroom. When he went in he saw Cathrine lying on the bed, lifeless and he saw Jess in the corner chair, just sitting and staring._

_"Jess." He said, walking over to him._

_"She'd wanted to see Sarah one last time, but I'd already sent Sarah to be with her grandparents a couple days ago." Jess said, looking at the bed._

_"You have to call somebody, Jess." Luke said_

_"I know, I, I'm just not ready." He let out a strangled chuckle then._

_"Ya know, I do all it takes to get Rory and then I lose her, but it's alright and then I found Cathrine, the one girl who truly kept me grounded. Two years, two years Luke, I only got two years and now…" he put his head in his hands and started crying. Luke felt slightly uncomfortable, since he wasn't used to seeing his nephew like this, even when he knew that he wasn't going to have Rory as his own, Jess had been alright. Luke pushed his pride away though and did something he never though he'd do, he wrapped his arms around Jess. Jess didn't push him away, but instead brought his own arms around Luke, and grabbed a hold of his jacket and held tight._

**Now**

"I'm sorry, Jess." Rory told him with sincerity.

"Thanks. It's alright though, Sarah and I have done well." He said with a smile, looking at her.

"So, I hear you've been telling the secrets of the town." He said, changing the topic as he went to the topic of her job.

"Yeah." She said with a chuckle.

**To Be Continued...**


	4. Grown Up

**A/N: **Hey, sorry it took so long to update, I just wasn't sure what to put next. Hope you enjoy this installment.

**Disclaimer: **Only own Sarah and Trevor.

Hours later they were all settled in at Luke and Lorelai's house. Jess and Sarah had put their stuff in the guest bedroom and now they were all sitting in the living room.

"Jess, I will be honest, it's good to have you back." Lorelai told him honestly.

"Thanks, good to be back. Things haven't changed much 'round here though, other than that little guy." He said, nodding his head towards Luke and Lorelai's son Trevor. He and Sarah were both on the floor coloring, just enjoying.

"He's a real flirt, that's for sure." Lorelai said in a joking manner. Jess only gave her a look.

"Every little girl at the pre-school, in his class, has received a kiss from him." She said with a smile. Jess laughed.

"Smart kid." Jess joked. This earned him a look from Luke and a friendly hit in the shoulder from Lorelai.

"Hey, guys, sorry I'm late." Rory said as she came rushing in. She sat in between her mom and Jess on the couch; Luke was in a chair across from the couch.

"So the raving reporter finally comes home to mommy." Lorelai quipped upon seeing her daughter.

"Very funny, mom. Hey, Jess." She said, looking over at him.

"Hey, Rory." He said, smiling at her. He looked away though when he heard arguing coming from the floor. Trevor and Sarah had both found themselves in a shouting match.

"Can not." Trevor shouted

"Can too." Sarah shot back.

"Can not."

"Can too."

"Sarah, what's going on?" Jess said, coming over to the two of them. He kneeled on the floor next to her. Luke had also come over and was next to Trevor.

"He said I can't draw a train 'cause I'm a girl." She told him. The look of pure innocence she gave him made him smile. Having grown up without a mother she hadn't really gained a sense of being girly. There were many times where she dressed in jeans and t-shirts. She hated dresses he knew that for sure, since when he had gotten her a dress and made her wear it, she'd cried. After that he never made her wear a dress again, mostly because he hated to see her cry. He shook his head of these thoughts as he went back to the situation at hand.

"Did you tell her that, Trevor?" Luke questioned.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"'Cause she's a girl and trains are for boys. Girls like flowers, boys like trains." He explained to Luke. Jess had to suppress a smile at the five year old's logic.

"Trevor, girls can draw trains if they want, alright."

"But, Daddy." He whined.

"No, buts." He said firmly.

"Fine. You can draw trains." He said to Sarah. She only smiled at him and went back to coloring. Jess and Luke shook their heads as they stood up to go back to their seats.

"The drama of kids, who can draw what." Lorelai said thoughtfully. Everybody smiled and laughed.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

That night as Jess was putting Sarah to bed it hit him how much he'd missed the people of Stars Hallow, Luke, Rory, even Lorelai who had always given him a hard time. They were good people, who actually cared about him.

"Daddy." Sarah said, knocking him out of his thoughts. He turned his attention to her.

"Yeah?"

"Will you read to me?"

"Yeah of course." He replied with a smile as he went over to his duffel bag and pulled out a worn copy of _Black Beauty. _He went over to the bed and settled into the other side of the bed, leaning against the headrest so that it'd be easy to read. She snuggled in close to him, ready for him to read to her.

"Alright, let's see where'd we leave off?" he asked, mostly to himself as he opened to the spot with a bookmark. He read to her until he noticed that she'd fallen asleep. Placing the book on the nightstand he leaned over and gave her a kiss on the head.

"Goodnight, beautiful princess." He reached over and turned off the light. Not quite ready to go to bed himself, he got up. He was shocked to see Rory standing in the doorway of the bedroom.

"You've really grown up haven't you, Jess?" she noted as he came up to her.

"Yeah, getting married and having a kid sort of does that." There was no bitterness or real sarcasm behind his words though. He was just stating a fact. He closed the door slightly and the two headed downstairs. Luke and Lorelai had already put Trevor to bed and were in bed themselves, leaving just Jess and Rory.

"Hey, sorry 'bout almost biting your head off in the diner earlier." She said as they entered the kitchen.

"It's alright, I deserved it. I left without any warning and then showed up without any other warning eight years later. And from what I pick up, those two haven't told a lot about my life to anyone, including you." He said as they sat down at the table. Rory got up again though to pour herself a cup of coffee.

"Yeah, I never really asked and both Luke and Mom never really gave any information." She told him. They were silent for a little bit, both lost in their own thoughts.

"Why'd you never come back before?" she asked suddenly, her curiosity getting the better of her. If the question shocked him, he didn't let it show.

"When I first left I was angry, at myself, at the town, at Luke, at everybody. I vowed to never return. Luke and I had had a few exchanging of words, most of what came from me I regret. When I got to New York, I was a mess. Took the first job I could at a grocery store. Almost lost that job several times because I refused to have the 'right' attitude most of the time. Soon after taking the job, Cathrine started to become a regular and we talked and then finally I asked her out. After a month or two of dating I couldn't take it any more so I asked her to marry me and she said yes. Rory, that was one of the best moments of my life, it really was. I thought things could only go up hill from there. And at first it seemed like they were. I invited Luke to the wedding, he was my best man, and we didn't argue once. Then not too long after we got married she announced she was pregnant with our child. I thought I was the luckiest man in the world. By the third month of pregnancy though things started to go downhill. The doctor said that having the baby could possibly kill her." He stopped for a minute as he got up and went over to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup. He knew he wouldn't drink it, but he just needed to get up and do something. Rory could tell he was trying to keep tight reign on his emotions and so she didn't push him on the rest of the story, he continued though. He was standing beside the counter, not looking at her as he spoke.

"She refused to give up the baby. Said that she didn't care if she died, as long as her baby had a life. Sarah was a full month early and it seemed that this put more strain on her body. Cathrine barely made it that night, but she was a fighter and wouldn't let herself die, especially not before seeing her baby, our baby. After that I didn't come back at all just because I thought it'd take time away from the time I had with her, stupid I know, but that's how it was. Luke wanted me to come back after she died. I couldn't though. My pride got in the way, still wasn't ready to face the town yet, refused to really admit how I missed it. I did miss it, maybe not the town, but the people." He said, looking over at her slightly. Rory didn't know how to respond to what he'd just told her. Through the years of knowing him she'd never known him to be so open, so honest.

"It's good to have you back, Jess." It was the only thing she could think to say to him. He looked at her with a smile.

"Who would've ever thought that I'd come back? I tried so hard to get out and now look; I'm planning to move back." He said thoughtfully.

"Might put some spice back into this town." She joked.

"Maybe." He smiled once again at her.

**To Be Continued...**


End file.
